My Blog Statistics - Visits & Posts

A visual presentation of my @blogposts and #visits to my Astro Page blog.

Total Solar Eclipse 2024 - Mexico-US-Canada

The Total Solar Eclipse of Monday April 8, 2024 crosses Mexico, US and Canada. About 32 million US people live in the totality path and the weather is a challenge.

Both Mexico as Texas are still below 50% cloud coverage with the Mexican coast about 35%.

For more information about the weather statistics around April 1 for the totality path : see this link.

See also this website of Xavier Jubier for timings and locations of the solar eclipse.

My astronomical Highlights 2022

An interesting astronomical year "2022" with some amazing "wow" moments and again great learnings. I had to limit the list but these are my astronomical highlights:

#1 Visiting European Gravitational Observatory (Virgo) at Cascina (Italy); thx to my family

#2 A real interessing session and meeting Heino Falcke together with my collegue Walter 

#3 My best picture of Mars using IR/UV blocker 

#4 Solar Image with a detailed prominance

#5 Jupiter with Moon Io

Worth mentioning:

#6 Solar Image with Ellerman Bombs

#7 My first astroweekend @Berzieux (France) a making friends with Adriano

#8 Solar Image with full disk of the H-Alpha Sun 

#9 Meridian Line @Bologna (Italy) thx to collegue Patrick W

#10 Saturn at opposition

Moon Jupiter Saturn Mars 2022 Compilation

 

A 2022 compilation of my pictures of our solar system with our Moon, Mars, Jupiter and Saturn.

Celebrating 10 years blogging - Pascal Hilkens Astro Page

Today, exactly 10 years ago on December 23, 2012, I started with blogging and promoting my hobby via a personal blog. During these 10 years, I included 5 pages on my blog (Astro Page, Usefull links, Who Am I, Solargraphy and Helios), posted more then 1800 items and reached almost 130.000 people.

Start Winter

The Astronomical winter will start today, December 21, 22h48 local time (UT21h48).

Mars Color - IR 742nm comparison

 

Mars Comparison between:

Left -Color Image ASI224MC with IR/UV blocker filter and

Right - Image ASI224MC with IR 742 bandpass filter 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlox2 and ADC

Software: SharpCap4, AstroSurface

Sun December 16 reworked using AstroSurface

 

My image of the Sun in H-apha from December 16, 2022 is reworked using AstroSurface. The software is able to stack my SER movie and to edit the result using deconvolution, sharpening, ... Normally I stack my pictures using AS3! and editting with IMPPG and CS4. The result is very promissing.
The picture shows an active Sun with different prominences.

Setting: SolarMaxIII 70/400 f/5.7 DS, ASI290MM
Software: SharpCap4, AstroSurface

Lights out ! 1 hour more dark sky

Great news! Starting from tomorrow onwards, December 19, 2022, my hometown will turn off the city lights one hour earlier, which is at 11pm. About 7 years ago, they have been turning the lights off  from midnight till 5AM in the morning. So, one hour more dark sky!

Mars IR742nm

 

Image of Mars (December 12, 2022) using my IR 742 bandpass filter (above). To compare, below is the color picture of Mars using the IR/UV blocker filter. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlowx2, ADC, IR742nm bandpass filter

Software: SharpCap4, AstroSurface

Mars - Edit with AstroSurface T7 Titania

My earlier images of Mars (December 12th) are reworked using AstroSurface T7 Titania - see this link http://astrosurface.com/

This free software has the ability to stack and to edit the images inclusing, wavelets, sharpen, deconvolution but also RGB splitting and merging. So far the software is an added value on the once I'm currently using. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlowx2, ADC, IR/UV blocker

Software : SharpCap 4, AstroSurface

My blog name changed

I changed the name of my blog from Orionxt to Pascalhilkensastropage.

As from now, this is the link to my renamed blog : https://pascalhilkensastropage.blogspot.com

Sun H-alpha December 16, 2022

 

The H-alpha Sun this afternoon, low above the horizon.

Only 500 frames taken as the sun disappeared behind branches. Flats were taken a couple of minutes before. It's an active sun with some prominences.

Setting: SolarMaxIII 70/400 f/5.7 DS, 0,5x reducer, ASI290MM
Software : SharpCap4, AS3! (50%), CS4 

New Book from Marcel Vonk "Van getal naar Heelal"

 

Het fascinerende verhaal over hoe de wiskunde de natuurkunde vooruithelpt, en omgekeerd

Theoretisch natuurkundige Marcel Vonk laat zien dat wiskundige begrippen op verrassende wijze in de natuurkunde opduiken – en hoe die wiskundige concepten ons verder hebben geholpen in het doorgronden van de natuur. Dat alles in een begrijpelijke, verhalende stijl, waarbij hogere wiskundekennis beslist niet nodig is.

De rol van de wiskunde in de natuurkunde begint al bij eenvoudigweg tellen: hoeveel sterren zijn er in het heelal? Hoeveel moleculen bevat een gasfles? Ook bijna filosofische vragen komen dan naar boven: in hoeveel dimensies leven we? Hoeveel heelallen zijn er eigenlijk?

De rol van de wiskunde in de natuurkunde gaat echter veel verder: we hebben meetkunde nodig om de vorm van ons heelal en die van zwarte gaten te begrijpen, en in de quantummechanica worden moderne wiskundige structuren als ‘groepen’ en ‘algebra’s’ gebruikt – abstracte concepten die een concrete natuurkundige betekenis blijken te hebben, en die ons helpen de natuur beter te begrijpen. Uiteindelijk blijkt de invloed zelfs omgekeerd te werken: dankzij onverwachte hulp uit natuurkundige hoek weten wiskundigen tegenwoordig allerlei voorheen onbewezen vermoedens te bewijzen.

Marcel Vonk is onderzoeker in de mathematische fysica aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam. Hij schrijft populairwetenschappelijke artikelen, geeft lezingen, en schreef eerder Snaartheorie, Zwarte gaten en De race tegen de schildpad. Ook is hij fervent toernooipokeraar en won als derde Nederlander een bracelet tijdens de World Series of Poker.

The book will be available next spring '23

Selfie with Marcel Vonk during release of his book "Zwarte gaten"

Roger Penrose "De weg naar de werkelijkheid" arrived

I ordered the book "de weg naar de werkelijkheid" (The road to reality) from Nobel Prize winner Roger Penrose (91years) already two years ago on december 19, 2020. At last, I received my book this week. It's the second edition of the dutch translation, so brand new. 

Mars with good seeing

Imaging Mars on December 12, 2022 with good seeing and temperature of -6;6°C. The polar cap (north) and clouds (4 o'clock) are clearly visibility. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlowx2, ADC and IR/UV blocker

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!, DenNoise AI and CS4.

Mars in opposition and Olympus Mons

December 8th, 2022, and Mars is in Opposition with an angular diameter of 17". Clouds this morning during the Lunar Occulation of Mars but this evening 1 hour clear sky. The polar cap is still and good visible on the northpole and  at 10 o'clock (east) is Olympus Mons visible. I think this is first time I captured this volcano. 

Setting:TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlowx2, ADC and IR/UV blocker
Software: SharpCap, AS3!, CS4 and DeNoise AI

Quasars by The Lonely Photon

Do you want to know more about Quasars then this article  (use this link) is a good start. It's written by my friend Adriano, an amateur astrophotographer. based in Luxembourg. 

My book review "De olifant in het universum" published in Magazine Heelal

 

My book review "De olifant in het universum" is published in magazine Heelal (edition 67, number 12, december 2022) page 35.

See also my previous post on this book via this link. 

Selfie with the author Govert Schilling

IFTTT replaces Feedburner: AstroPage Pascal Hilkens

Recently I received questions on why people are not receiving my Blogger posts via email. In the past this proces was done through Feedburner but Google stopt supporting this software. I found an alternative with IFTTT - If This Than That. All subscriptions from feedburner are moved to IFTT and an email is generated from Twieter2020@gmail.com.

Lunar Occultation of Mars with Clouds

A lot of clouds before, during and after the Lunar Occultation of Mars. But still I was able to make some pictures a couple of minutes before the Lunar Occultation.

US Postal James Webb Space Telescope Stamps

Today I received 20 stamps from the US Postal service. With the release of this vibrant stamp, the U.S. Postal Service celebrates NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope as it continues its epic mission to reveal the cosmos as never seen before.

“When anyone who uses these stamps looks at this telescope, I want them to see what I see — its incredible potential to reveal new and unexpected discoveries that help us understand the origins of the universe, and our place in it,” Robert D. Cabana, NASA associate administrator and former astronaut said. “This telescope is the largest international space science program in U.S. history, and I can’t wait to see the scientific breakthroughs it will enable in astronomy.”

Stamp Artwork

The image on the stamp is an artist’s digitally created depiction of the telescope against a dazzling starscape. Its 18 gold-coated mirror segments — hexagons that combine to form its 21-foot-wide primary mirror—can pick up faint heat waves representing the universe’s first accessible starlight from billions of light-years away. Opposite, supported by three struts, is the secondary mirror. Below are the telescope’s solar shield, computers, control machinery, and the solar array that provides power.

The words “Webb Space Telescope” appear in white along the bottom edge of the stamp. “USA/FOREVER” runs vertically up the left-hand edge. In the selvage, at top, “James Webb Space Telescope” is printed in gold against the darkness of space, with an image of a star in a gap between the title’s last two words. Additional stars and galaxies appear in the background. This image was taken to confirm the perfect alignment of the telescope’s mirrors.

Art director Derry Noyes was the designer for the stamp project using existing art by James Vaughan and an image provided by NASA and the Space Telescope Science Institute.

Mars with UV-IR blocker and bandpass filter IR742

 

Imaging Mars on Friday, November 25, 2022. My first time use of an UV-IR blocker together with my ASI224MC color camera. The white polar cap is now good visible, which was not the case during my previous imaging sessions. This could confirm that I was imaging in IR and polluting it with visual light. 

Next to this, I used also my new bandpass filter IR742 for the first time. The result is an mono picture with some great details. 

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC, Barlow x2, ADC
Filters: IR/UV blocker and IR742nm

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!, CS4, DeNoise AI

BlueWalker 3 - Estimate Magnitude 1

Observing satellite BlueWalker together with SeaSat1. Estimating magnitute around 1. 

Satelliet BlueWalker 3 is a prototype satellite for AST & Science's SpaceMobile mobile communications constellation. The satellite will be to test AST & Science's patented technologies for connecting to cellphones in a space environment for their planned SpaceMobile constellation. The 1.5 ton satellite will deploy a 10 m diameter phased array antenna with 64 m2 area consisting of numerous identical sub-antenna modules to connect directly to standard mobile phones.
It is a prototype for the larger operational BlueBird satellites. The first five BlueBird satellites will be similar to BlueWalker 3, while the remaining will be larger.

Mars and Infrared

 

My picture of Mars, earlier this week, is made using my ASI224MC camera. The ASI224MC, is a color camera with some good respons in the near infrared. As I did not use an IR/UV blocker  the picture is an IR picture polluted with visual light -see also article "why you should use an IR cut filter with a  color camera". The color of my Mars picture is reddish/pink which is not a realistic color. I saw different pictures of Mars from other amateurs which are using an IR/UV blocking filter. Threrofor I ordered an IR/UV blocker  with the following properties.

On top of this I will purchase two IR bandpass filters: 642 and 742nm IR bandpass filters. Below is a graph showing the IR bandpass and the sensitivity of the ASI224MC camera.

RGB lines represent the sensitivity of ASI224MC
642, 742 and 807 are graphs of the IR bandpass filter.

The vertical lines are emission lines as a reference eg. H-alpha, OIII, Na, Hg

The grey line in the back is a typical curve of an astrosensor.

Mars Reworked - R,G,B split with PIPP and WinJupos

It had been a while since I photographed Mars. On Sunday, November 13, the conditions were favorable with a completely open sky. As a setting I had my TAL200K with ASI224MC camera. Furthermore an ADC and barlow x2. The polar alignment went flawlessly with an “excellent” result and only 8 arcseconds deviation! In total I have been outside for 3 hours and I have made 8 shots of 3000 frames (145fps). The recordings were made via SharpCap 4 and saved in SER format. 

On Monday morning I have the SER files with AS3! stacked and edited in CS4. Personally, I didn't think it was bad and could compare the details with the Mars Mapper. However, I received feedback from Johan R and Walter about: where the polar cap was and why the picture looked so red. In the meantime I had also sent my photo through the VVS maillisting where I received the same feedback from Geert VDB and Luc DS. So back to the drawing board. Most planetary photographers shoot with mono cameras and RGB filters. Few do it with a color camera and that's where the problem is. The colors of a color camera do not always correspond with reality, so with the ASI224MC. The white balance must be adjusted to R52(R58) and B99(B99). Since the recordings had already been made, I got the tip from Walter to split the SER files into R, G, and B images. This was done with PIPP software. Then stacking with AS3! (25% retention of the frames). Using WinJupos I then merged the obtained R,G,B photos where the gamma of Blue is 2x higher than R and G. This way I get an RGBB image. This image was edited in CS4 and in DeNoise AI. 

The result is a beautifully detailed Mars image with a more realistic color and a visible polar cap. A satisfied amateur astronomer 😊

Mars - November 13, 2022 - Compared with Mars Mapper

Picture of Mars from November 13, 2022, UT22h58 with fair to good seeing conditions.

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5, ASI224MC with ADC and Barlowx2

Software: SharpCap 4, AS3!, CS4, DeNoise AI

Picture is compared with Mars view from Mars Mapper - see this link. Details are matching well.

Mars - My first picture 2022

My first close-up picture from Mars this year. The red planet is currently 0,57 AE away from Earth and is 97% illuminated. The angular diameter is about 16,4".

Setting: TAL200K f/8.5 with ASI224MC and ADC, Barlow x2

Software : SharpCap 4, AS3! (25% stacked), CS4 and DeNoise AI